Has anyone else using SDF and version control ever noticed that sometimes the position of certain elements is shifted when pulling a new copy of an object previously committed? Even though the object itself has not been modified inside the account.

like the xml nodes moving around? that doesn't actually change anything... but your version control shows them as changes? I've never seen that, sounds annoying

exactly, just the order not the actual content

does it KEEP happening on the same XML file? it might just be the case that when get latest account version it comes in a specific way? do you edit the xml by hand ever?

Yes. The order of the manifest file seems completely random

Can't think of why you'd want to commit the manifest to the repo tbh it's more of a deployment artifact as I see it

It only becomes a deployment artifact if you have written code to generate it. Most teams I've advised or worked on haven't done that

I tend to regard things like deploy.xml and manifest.xml as mere vehicles for deploying customizations to NetSuite rather than files that warrant versioning

How does a teammate deploy your SDF project after cloning it?

I think this got sidetracked, or I misunderstood? the orginal question was about NS OBJECT xml files.... not manifest.xml etc.

Either way, the XML nodes get rearranged, yes.